IANS
TIN BIGHA, MARCH 31
Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on a two-day visit to West Bengal, surveyed the India-Bangladesh border and visited border enclaves in Cooch Behar district on Tuesday.
Although scheduled earlier, Rajnath Singh’s visit to the border came a day after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in a charge sheet before a Kolkata court said the terrorists involved in the Burdwan blast had conspired with Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh to overthrow the government in Dhaka.
Besides holding talks with officers of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), the home minister said a letter to the Mamata Banerjee government has been sent for acquiring land for fencing parts of the border that remain unfenced.
“It was a cordial meet with BSF and BGB officers. Besides visiting the border, the visit was also to enquire about the problems that our BSF personnel may have. I was here also to look into how the border area development works is progressing,” Rajnath Singh told media persons.
The home minister met BGB officers at Panbari border outpost before heading towards the Tin Bigha corridor, a strip of land leased to Bangladesh to allow access to its Dahagrama-Angarpota enclaves.
“The visit was also aimed to gather information about the enclave dwellers,” Rajnath Singh said after visiting a Bangladeshi enclave in Balapukhri in Cooch Behar and taking stock of the ground reality in the area ahead of the implementation of the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with Bangladesh.
Implementation of the LBA, agreed between the two nations in 1974, will lead the exchange of enclaves.
While Bangladesh has 51 enclaves in India, there are 111 Indian enclaves spread over four districts of Bangladesh along the Cooch Behar border.
Though not allowed to talk to Rajnath Singh, the Bharat Bangladesh Enclave Exchange Coordination Committee (BBEECC) — an organisation fighting for the rights of the enclave dwellers — said it submitted a memorandum to the home minister.
“While the BSF allowed us inside the security zone, those accompanying Rajnath Singh prevented us from meeting him. We, however, managed to give a memorandum of our demands concerning the enclave dwellers,” committee convener Diptiman Sengupta said.
Rajnath Singh also said a proposal has been sent to the West Bengal government for acquiring land for fencing the unfenced border.
“We have submitted a proposal for land acquisition to the state government. If it is accepted, then the entire unfenced border will be fenced,” he said.
The home minister would head to border outposts in the Sundarbans on Wednesday.
‘Let Land Bill be passed first, amendments may be made later’
PTI
TEEN BIGHA, MARCH 31
Government on Tuesday appealed to the opposition to support the land acquisition bill and help in its passage in Parliament while amendments in the interest of farmers could be taken up later.
“Let the land acquisition bill is passed first. If it proves in future that it is hurting farmers’ interests, we can always amend it. Government is ready to do that. But let it be passed in Parliament first,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh told PTI here.
He said the welfare of farmers and development of villages were very much necessary for the country as without comprehensive development of farmers, there cannot be any progress of India.
Singh said that the NDA government was committed for the development of the rural folks in the country.
“I would like to appeal to political parties to support the land acquisition bill and allow its passage in Parliament,” he said.
The land acquisition bill could not be passed in Rajya Sabha as most of the opposition parties are opposed to it and the government does not have the numbers in the upper house.
The government had promulgated the land acquisition ordinance in October 2014 and the legislation was supposed to be passed by Parliament by April 5.
Since it did not happen, the Budget session of Rajya Sabha was prorogued to facilitate the re-promulgation of the ordinance.
While the bill, providing for amending the Act of 2013, cleared Lok Sabha earlier this month, it got stuck in Rajya Sabha with entire opposition uniting in the House where the ruling NDA is in a minority.
An ordinance has to be converted into an Act through passage of a bill in Parliament within 42 days or six weeks from the day a session begins after promulgation of an ordinance.
If the government wants to keep the ordinance in force, it will have to re-promulgate it before April 5, which is the 42nd day since the Budget Session began on February 23.
